Bo Svensson is happy.

With the course of the preparation, with the fitness level of his players and the atmosphere in the team.

All this gives the FSV Mainz 05 coach a good feeling.

"But ultimately it's just a feeling," he says before the encounter at VfB Stuttgart, with which the Rheinhessen will continue their Bundesliga season this Saturday (3:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky).

"After the long winter break, a kind of new season begins," announces the Dane, who also meets a colleague in the new VfB coach Bruno Labbadia with whom he has never had anything to do.

"We'll see in the games whether we're ready." The two forthcoming English weeks with the games against Borussia Dortmund, VfL Bochum, the cup game against FC Bayern and the task at Union Berlin will provide information.

Robin Zentner is in danger of dropping out: The goalkeeper, who had to miss the previous friendly against Hoffenheim, is plagued by back problems.

"Robin did a little something this week," said Svensson. He also worked on the pitch with goalkeeper coach Stephan Kuhnert, but did not take part in the full team training session.

“Sometimes he has more, sometimes less pain.

We will test it again and hope everything is okay.”

Should that not be the case, Finn Dahmen will guard the goal and Lasse Rieß will sit on the bench.

"When Finn plays, it's not a risk," emphasized Svensson. "It's well known that he's a very good goalkeeper." The 24-year-old, who didn't extend his contract, which expires in the summer, is unhappy with his role as a substitute , will leave the club after the round.

"But he has always been stable, and the disappointment about his low number of appearances" - five in the past two seasons, none in the current one - "you never noticed him in training."

Burkardt's long suffering

Jonathan Burkardt is definitely not a candidate for Stuttgart – and probably not in the next two weeks either.

"I can't answer when Jonny will be available again," says Svensson.

The striker, who had knee surgery in early December, is still in rehab and making progress, "but not as fast as we hoped and expected."

Will this development affect personnel planning?

Are Mainz now increasingly looking for an attacker after Andreas Hanche-Olsen, who is committed to the defensive line?

"We're not getting anyone to have one more in the squad," Svensson assures, "if so, then it has to be reinforcement." In the case of the central defender, "we waited until the right one came along," that's what those responsible apparently want also keep on the offensive.

"If it doesn't fit, we don't do anything."

However, the Dane sounds as if he would very much like to find access that meets the criteria.

After all, in addition to Burkardt, Marlon Mustapha (for quite some time) and Delano Burgzorg (still some time) are currently out.

Karim Onisiwo and Marcus Ingvartsen are the only seasoned professionals the club has as strikers.

The talented youngsters Ben Bobzien, Brajan Gruda and Nelson Weiper should not be overburdened with expectations.

"You can't just throw in one or two of them," Svensson said.

Weiper, for example, belongs to the younger U-19 class.

"It is not to be expected that he scores directly in the Bundesliga."